Pollution

The Surfrider Foundation’s Newport Beach Chapter will hold its first RockWater Run March 28 to raise awareness of pollution in the Santa Ana Watershed. The organization hopes to make it an annual event. At midnight, runners will depart from the mountains of Big Bear, descending 100 miles alongside the snowmelt as it travels through the Santa Ana River and into the ocean. The run is divided into four 25-mile legs, each run by a different team of runners who will alternate mileage to cover the distance.

Alicia Robinson Five years ago, Garry Brown made a promise while looking out over the murky waters of the Rhine Channel. He kept that promise Friday, announcing a major study of pollution in the channel at the site where water quality watchdog Orange County CoastKeeper was founded in 1999. Data collection began in late June, but CoastKeeper, the city of Newport Beach and other groups officially kicked off a $346,000 study with a media event Friday at the Cannery restaurant, which overlooks the channel.

Alicia Robinson Orange County's streams are polluted by some easily traceable sources, such as dairy farms, and much of that has been stopped or reduced recently. But harder-to-trace pollutants, such as animal waste and runoff from washing cars, are still spoiling some waterways, a new report shows. Two-and a-half years of research and the work of more than 200 volunteers went into a report released this week by Newport Beach-based, water-quality watchdog Orange County CoastKeeper.

Deirdre Newman Five industrial property owners in an area of the Westside that the city is considering adding to the downtown redevelopment zone violated air quality rules within a one-year period ending in May. From July 2002 to May 2003, a total of nine companies within the area received Notices of Violation that could have penalties of up to $50,000 per day. The five industrial properties are Pinecraft Custom ...

Last year was the hottest year on record in the U.S., and the effects of global warming are already showing up in our backyards. The state took a big step forward in 2006 by adopting AB 32, the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, but now it's time for Congress to act. The good news is that we can reduce global-warming pollution nationwide by harnessing America's vast renewable energy sources like wind, solar, geothermal and biomass...

Alex Coolman NEWPORT BEACH -- The results of an environmental study to be released Tuesday should help the city address some of its runoff-related pollution concerns, city officials said. The study was conducted by the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, a public research group whose board members are drawn from city, county, state and federal agencies. The group has been looking at nine spots in Newport Beach where levels of bacteria are frequently high.

The numbers are eye-popping. Pollution in the water along Newport Beach and Huntington Beach costs people as much as $3.3 million in medical treatments each year -- anywhere from $37 to $77 per illness. That's an expensive dip in the ocean. Right? Well, maybe not. As much as the numbers -- which come from a study released this month by a group led by a UC Irvine doctoral student -- seem to be yet more fodder in the battle to increase water-quality standards, they are, sadly, not nearly as shocking as they appear.

A research team at UCI’s Institute of Transportation Studies has received a grant to study commercial traffic around the Long Beach and Los Angeles ports in hopes of finding ways to ease traffic and pollution. The University of California Transportation Center, funded by the California and U.S. departments of transportation, is expected to provide the UCI study team with $220,000 during the next two years. Six faculty experts will examine traffic patterns on the 110 and 710 freeways and the Alameda Corridor, a rail-cargo expressway between the ports and city of Los Angeles.

June Casagrande A pollution-prone storm drain that may have contributed to the 1999 beach closure in Huntington Beach doesn't have to be shut down and the flow diverted into the sewer system, but the city must take other measures to stave off hazards posed by the Caltrans-owned drain. And neighbors are sure to feel some of the effects. City officials say they plan to step up enforcement of water-quality rules in the Seashore Drive watershed, an area between 61st Street and the Santa Ana River on the south side of Coast Highway.

In the summer of 2008, the 29th Olympic Games will open in Beijing. Taking advantage of worldwide attention brought about by the Olympics, China will no doubt try to show the world it is now a modern political and economic superpower rivaling the United States and the countries of the European Union. China likes to talk about its growth, rapid modernization and influence, but what it doesn’t like to talk about is its increasing contribution to worldwide pollution. Although China claims it is spending money on cleaner sources of energy, these claims are not supported by facts.

As the reception area at the Balboa Bay Resort on Friday night filled with Newport Beach's political notables, the woman of honor stood in a back corner, being greeted and congratulated. Several approached her singing a Girl Scout tune, excited for their friend, Jean Watt, who was soon to be recognized officially as the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce's 2013 Citizen of the Year. About 175 people, including councilmembers current and past, attended the celebration of Watt's contributions to the city as commemorated by the award, which she accepted with humility and gratitude.

I read with great interest your columns on the wood burning fire pits that are on our beaches. I wonder what the South Coast Air Quality Management District would have to say about the spent carbon jet fuel that rains down on my house and the rest of Newport Beach? When I moved here in 1986 it came down in 1-millameter sized flakes. Now, with the newer jet engines, it comes down in dust-size particles that can be inhaled 15 hours a day. I'd prefer an evening of wood smoke. Bruce Johnston Newport Beach * Abortion ban I find Hoag Hospital's decision to ban abortions an outrage.

Assemblyman Allan Mansoor (R-Costa Mesa) sent air-quality regulators a letter Wednesday requesting public records related to an ongoing study that shows increases in pollution near beach fire rings. The letter was also signed by state Sen. Mimi Walters (R-Irvine) and Assemblymen Travis Allen (R-Huntington Beach) and Curt Hagman (R-Chino Hills). All four legislators have spoken against a ban on wood-burning beach fires up for consideration by the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which would effectively snuff out what some have called an integral Southern California tradition in Orange and Los Angeles counties.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District, the agency that could effectively ban beach fire rings throughout Orange and Los Angeles counties, released preliminary results Wednesday showing increased levels of particulate matter in the air around the bonfires. The possible ban has sparked intense debate among the county's beach cities, with Newport Beach residents living close to fire rings pushing for their removal because of associated health risks and Huntington Beach residents leading the charge to keep a Southern California tradition alive.

Two Orange County surfers have taken their passion for water activities and transformed it into a passion for the water's health. Mark Ward, 46, from Laguna Beach, and Billy Dutton, 51, from Newport Beach, returned from a 13-day, 350-mile "electric surfing safari" Saturday. During their trip, they traveled in a 22-foot solar-powered electric Duffy boat and surveyed the amount of plastic along the California coast, aiming to spread awareness about pollution in the ocean and the effects it can have.

Eastside Costa Mesa is about to get another Starbucks, the third in about a 2-mile stretch off 17 t h Street, but this one is different. This one has a drive-through. Housed with what used to be a credit union, the location at 450 E. 17 t h St. was not without controversy. "More than 60 residents of Cabrillo Street have written letters to the City Council opposing the (drive-through) aspect of the proposed Starbucks," Councilwoman Wendy Leece wrote in a request to review the project.

COSTA MESA — A group of high-school seniors brought home a national first-place title for creating an environmentally friendly business. "We're not supposed to be winning championships, but we do," said Business Academy teacher Mike Sciacca. "We don't have as much money as wealthier schools, but our kids just chose to win … I hope they realize success is a choice. " One of Costa Mesa High School's Virtual Enterprise classes created Sanatorius, a pollution-offset company that installs compost toilets in developing countries.

After years of debating a ban on leaf blowers, the city of Newport Beach is, well, debating it some more. The city announced Thursday an online poll to gauge residents and business owners' take on the matter. Options on the survey range from a ban on gas-powered blowers to some sort of restriction on the quieter electric-powered leaf blowers, as well as restricted hours of use. Most people who complain about leaf blowers cite noise or how they stir up harmful particles in the air. Others say it's a cost-effective way to keep landscaping clean.

If Harbor Patrol deputies board your boat in Newport Harbor and ask to see the restroom, don't be offended. They're just doing their job. When the Orange County Sheriff's Harbor Patrol contracted with Newport Beach to continue overseeing the harbor's 1,200 or so moorings, they also took on a new task: checking the plumbing. In the next 60 to 90 days, the Harbor Patrol will roll out a new dye tab program, where deputies drop a tab of a colored dye into the toilet and flush.

I paid a visit to City Hall on Tuesday to reserve a park for my daughter’s third birthday party. Seeing as how I have not attended City Council meetings for some time now, I took the opportunity to view the posted agenda for our fair city’s council meeting Tuesday night. I cannot begin to express my befuddlement over the council’s absolute silliness. The last two items on the agenda, introduced by Mayor Allan Mansoor and Councilwoman Wendy Leece, seethe with hypocrisy and ignorance.